I deliberately came off this site during the match as I knew exactly what some of the comments would descend into. But just for the record:

1. This is a venue that Andy struggles with, so he superseded expectations by getting to the QF.2. He was playing against an inspired JDP, saw a comment saying JDP was just pushing the ball really? 3. AM has just returned after a 6 week lay off / training block to a tournament that he often struggles with4. AM played some amazing tennis but he also had an unusually high no of unforced errors which would suggest he is trying out new ways of playing.5. To say he will never get to No 2 "cos he's just not good enough or consistent enough" this is the player that has reached the finals of the last three slams and won the Olympic gold medal mmmm clearly this guy's just not good enough.6. AM and JDP battered each other in searing temperatures last night whilst ND swept JWT aside without much sweat being lost I personally would not want AM going up against ND and suffering a whitewash loss, far more psychological damage come the next slams etc.7. He gained some ranking points 8. Up next Miami, suits AM, loves the conditions and feels at home there.

This is Andy Murray, he will never be the consistent, robotic player that some people crave, he is an individual with a genius streak, you get utter brillance which can then be followed by a period of mediocrity, but I love the brilliance and I will take that every time. However, to write off the rest of the year based on one loss would suggest a lack of perspective, Andy suffered a loss which was not wholly unexpected. There is a long way to go, we have been Andy fans for long enough to know the lows are counteracted by some very amazing highs.

By the way thankfully the negative posters on here are usually outnumbered by the rational and positive posters. Onwards and upwards for Andy Murray.

Well said MurrayMagic - how can anyone not be disappointed when they know how brilliantly Andy can play and watch him battle like he did last night. He kept fighting though - we just have to watch all the ups and downs unfold. Good Luck in Miami Andy - we'll be watching you and cheering you on.

I hope Lendl has words with him this weekend and tells him some honest truths.

Without wishing to get into slanging matches, comments like this take my breathe away. They make the poster sound a bit of a numpty in my opinion. Non of us armchair supporters have a clue what Murray and Lendl's game plan is. It's very easy to be an expert when all you have to wield is a keyboard and a few words. Tsonga has a new coach, yet his match against ND was one if his most brutal crucifixions. Wonder what his supporters are saying about how well that partnership is going. I know nothing about this game, I couldn't even physically manage to hit a ball. What I do know is that since Lendl came on board Murray has reached the finals of the last 3 Grand Slams, and two Olympic Finals. He has come away with Gold and Silver medals, and his first GS trophy. That's playing in one of the top eras of tennis. No mean feat in my view. When will folks accept that Murray isn't Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

It must be so sad for some of you supporting a player that you really think is such crap, and who has so many failings both tennis and personality wise, and who you perceive deliberately let's you down all the time. Why on earth do you do it? If you are such an expert, why are you not out there playing and winning these tournaments yourself, or coaching somebody else to reach these amazing heights. From your comments it is quite easy and the only reason Murray isn't rising to your expectations is he is basically a fairly duff tennis player and human being.

I really don't understand why you bother with "supporting" this travesty of a player. If you want better than Murray then your choices at the moment seem to be Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. All such wonderful players and nice, completely rounded people. Not one of them has a trace of arrogance, obsessive compulsive disorder or suspicions of being involved in doping.

No Lendl does not need to talk to Murray and tell him a few honest truths. They just need to get on with what they are doing. We need to have faith they, as the experts know a damn site more than any of us.

Personally that Gold Medal slaughtering of Federer was one of the great sporting highlights for me, and I am grateful for team Murray for giving that to me. The Grand Slam was great to me because it was so important to Andy Murray and he worked so hard to get it.

If the new strategy doesn't work out at least he has given it ago. The way he has played in this tournament i.e. so awkwardly, smacks to me of a period of transition, but I don't know and certainly wouldn't presume to judge.

Please folks stop talking out of your nether regions with regard to Murray. Either accept him for what and who he is, or find a another player to support.

Stop being so foul. I can't see any justification for it at all. You made a comment about Sherlock, one of this fictional characters maxims was "it is a capital mistake to theorise before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement". That's what I think a lot of the armchair tacticians in here are doing.

I deliberately came off this site during the match as I knew exactly what some of the comments would descend into. But just for the record:

1. This is a venue that Andy struggles with, so he superseded expectations by getting to the QF.2. He was playing against an inspired JDP, saw a comment saying JDP was just pushing the ball really? 3. AM has just returned after a 6 week lay off / training block to a tournament that he often struggles with4. AM played some amazing tennis but he also had an unusually high no of unforced errors which would suggest he is trying out new ways of playing.5. To say he will never get to No 2 "cos he's just not good enough or consistent enough" this is the player that has reached the finals of the last three slams and won the Olympic gold medal mmmm clearly this guy's just not good enough.6. AM and JDP battered each other in searing temperatures last night whilst ND swept JWT aside without much sweat being lost I personally would not want AM going up against ND and suffering a whitewash loss, far more psychological damage come the next slams etc.7. He gained some ranking points 8. Up next Miami, suits AM, loves the conditions and feels at home there.

This is Andy Murray, he will never be the consistent, robotic player that some people crave, he is an individual with a genius streak, you get utter brillance which can then be followed by a period of mediocrity, but I love the brilliance and I will take that every time. However, to write off the rest of the year based on one loss would suggest a lack of perspective, Andy suffered a loss which was not wholly unexpected. There is a long way to go, we have been Andy fans for long enough to know the lows are counteracted by some very amazing highs.

By the way thankfully the negative posters on here are usually outnumbered by the rational and positive posters. Onwards and upwards for Andy Murray.

Thanks MM,great post!

I ended up coming off here for similar reasons.I won't deny that I was seriously unhappy with what last night turned into.But thinking about it this morning,Andy got to the quarter-finals of a tournament where,for the past few years,he hasn't even been able to win his opening match.

He may not have closed the rankings gap between him and Fed entirely just yet,but he went quite a ways toward doing so,and I really believe that he'll do it completely soon.And even though he's been playing far from his best all week,with the exception of last night,he still toughed it out and found a way to win.That showed a lot of mental strength-strength people for years were saying that Andy would never have.So even though last night didn't go our way,there's still a lot of positives to take from this week.

My take is that it's been four years since Murray played Del Potro. Since then, Andy has adopted the more offensive game plan against pretty much everybody. But having not played the guy in so long, he's forgotten that he used to beat him by playing herky-jerky tennis - otherwise he's just playing Delpo at his own game. And nobody ball-bashes better than Del Boy.

After watching the match, i was initially disappointed. Murray couldnt break him down. BUT, i think he played the wrong way as a previous post said its been a while since these 2 met.

playing aggressively is great, but maybe not against DP. Murray played well, had a slight dip, but continued fighting to the end where i almost believed he would break him back. A point here or there coulda and woulda made a difference but thats how tight the match was.

he still gained points on federer and i believe he will take the number 2 spot soon, keep it up murray and dont be dissappointed, Del Potro played an amazing game and never dipped he could do no wrong and thats tennis for you

I'm so glad I wasn't around here last night. I'm sure it wasn't pretty.

The way I look at it is that Andy lost a tennis match, plain and simple. It's not the end of the world and tells us nothing about the rest of the year or Andy's wider career, and anyone who thinks it does is insane. It doesn't even tell us anything about the next few weeks, let alone the rest of Andy's career.

How quickly some of us change our minds. At the beginning of the tournament some of us would have been delighted with the quarter finals, bearing in mind that Andy hadn't got through the second round in the two previous IW tournaments. Some of us were suggesting this year wouldn't be any different, especially given the long lay-off Andy had. Andy made the quarter finals and suddenly it's a disaster.

The fact of it is that Andy was a bit rusty and Delpo was playing out of his skin. Delpo is clearly on a good run at the moment and is confident. Andy has just come out of a six week lay-off and practice is clearly not the same as match play, and he was playing in a tournament that simply does not suit him, for whatever reason. There is nothing more to it than that.

To suggest that Andy isn't good enough to make no.2 is, frankly, utter crap. Are we now supposed to forget that Andy has won a major and beat Djokovic on hard to do it? Are we supposed to forget he won the Olympic gold, beating Djokovic and Federer back to back and both in straight sets to do it? Are we suposed to forget that Andy has made the last 3 grand slam finals and the Olympic final too? Are we supposed to forget that Andy has won 25 titles and 8 Masters tournaments? Seriously, get real.

It's interesting that some are concerned about the development of Andy's game and want him to go back to touch and feel rather than being aggressive. I like Andy's variety, don't get me wrong, and he was using it very well at times last night, pulling off some brilliance you could argue he had no right to, but what Andy now seems to realise is that touch and feel does not win you major titles. What would we really prefer, Andy winning best of three tournaments week in week out, or Andy winning majors? I know what I think.

It's quite clear that Andy's game is still evolving. Changes don't always kick in immediately. If they do for certain other players that is good for them. However, it didn't strike me that Andy lost last night because his game has changed drastically and he can't deal with it. I think it was more to do with the conditions not suiting him, his not being quite as match sharp as he might have liked and because Delpo is playing with confidence, having had a good run recently. If you listened to the pundits over the last couple of days, very few of them predicted Andy to win against Delpo, but none of them followed that up by suggesting that Andy suddenly has issues with his game or that he has suddenly become a bad player. They just pointed out that the conditions at IW, given the way the courts have been playing, probably suited Delpo more, and that is how it turned out.

I think some around here have been indulging in kidology since Andy won the USO. I just think some got it into their heads that Andy was going to win everything in sight and was going to start thrashing everybody all the time. Realistically that wasn't going to happen. It might in the future, we don't know. All I know is that Andy tried last night and just came up short against an inspired opponent. Given a choice between a loss to Delpo and another loss to Djokovic I'd take the loss to Delpo any day just now, because you can't read anything in to this one and Djokovic would probably take a lot from beating Andy again so soon after the AO.

The one thing I don't think anyone has done is have a go at Andy or Lendl for the six weeks lay-off. I fully expected to come on this morning and see a chorus of 'he should have played Delray Beach', type comments. Personally I think taking that time now will help later on in the season, so it wise, irrespective of what happened last night.

The interesting thing will be how Delpo goes in the semi's. I'd be pleased if he could find a way through Djokovic, but I have to be honest, I doubt it. Something just tells me he'll lose, and it might even be straight sets. I just don't think he'll play at the level he played last night again. I'd love him to surprise me though. As for the tournament, I have a weird feeling that Nadal is going to win. I know, bonkers!

I agree with you TeeJay re Nadal I have watched his transition between clay and hard court with interest since his return to competitive tennis He's certainly not a spent force A very thoughtful contribution I too hope things will work out for Murray

Come on guys seriously think some people are being very harsh Andy has made huge strides here even with a loss it doesn't matter who you are you can't win everything it crazy he should be very proud of himself Forward and up stand by your man trust me he will come back better than ever

Why - he went out in the QF of the US Open, the final of the WTF, the Semi of the AO, and the QF of this tournament, which he won last year. It has also shown him that Nadal has stil got his measure.

I imagine Federer has gone away from this tournament staring the future in its face. Yes he will keep the number 2 slot for for a few weeks longer, but he won't have it by the summer. He is losing his magic. Murray's lose was fairly predictable in this tournament - Feds less so.

I imagine a few more months and Federer will be planning his exit strategy.

I wish folks would stop making such daft comments. Lets face facts. Murray is never going to be as good at Fed, Nadal and ND. That doesn't make him a lesser human being. If where he is at now is his ceiling, he is still a damn good tennis player. Do I think Murray will take the number 2 spot yes. Do I think he will get to be number 1. Realistically that's unlikely unless something happens to Djokovic. I would love if if he managed even for a week, so he could be officially a former number 1 player.

Lets get really real, would the likes of Ferrer, Berdych and Tsonga swap places with him for all his so called faults. Of course they would. Tsonga looks like he has reached his ceiling. Ferrer has made the most of his talents, but is now on the same path as Federer. Berdych has reached one GS final and that might well be it. If you want to talk lack of consistency look at him. He is another Djokovic tramples all over.

Stop making dingbat comments. They are not clever, and more importantly they are not accurate.